EU foreign ministers have agreed to extend sanctions against Russia, which are due to expire on 31 January. The agreement was announced on X by the EU's top diplomat, Kaja Kallas.
The extension of sanctions was threatened by the position of Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban wanted to wait until the inauguration of the new US president to find out how he felt about anti-Russian restrictive measures. Since Donald Trump openly threatened Russia with even more sanctions after taking office if it did not start negotiations to end the war, Budapest has softened its rhetoric.
Today, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that his country's consent "depends on the European Commission providing guarantees that it will take a certain position in the future when a threat to the energy security of a member state arises".
According to Reuters, the European Commission wants to discuss gas transit to Europe with Ukraine and is ready to involve Hungary and Slovakia. It was these two countries that demanded the continuation of the transit of Russian gas, which Ukraine stopped on 1 January.
If the EU had not agreed to extend sanctions beyond 31 January, it could have given Russia access to assets frozen since 2022.